Providers can shape future of new fund

Housing providers have a vital role in
informing social services about the importance of the government’s
Supporting People policy, delegates were told at a conference last
week.

Speaking at the Chartered
Institute of Housing’s annual conference, Paul Johnson, director of
tenant services at housing group Anchor Trust, said: “There are
wide views in social services departments about Supporting People
and that is where housing can step in. We can help educate them and
our health colleagues.”

He
added that Supporting People, which is a new funding regime for
housing-related support services, offered great potential for the
development of more joined-up thinking between service providers.
“Supporting People is an opportunity for new types of integrated
services to come forward,” he said.

At the
conference in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Anchor Trust launched
its guide for providers on how to implement the Supporting People
programme.

Developed in partnership with
social housing regulator the Housing Corporation, the report draws
upon two years of work by three of the six Supporting People
preparatory projects in councils across the country: Brighton and
Hove, Cheshire, and Hartlepool.

Johnson added: “Providers need to
be preparing for this now by understanding how to involve service
users and engage constructively with commissioners in the way
services to vulnerable people are planned and
delivered.”

–
Implementing Supporting People: A Guide for Support
Providers from www.anchor.org.uk/supp_people